Remich to Sierck-les-Bains: Day 132

Today I left Luxembourg at Schengen, and after a brief visit to Germany, I am now in France.

Sometime in the night I was aware of thunder, lightening and rain, but it scarcely disturbed my sleep. Fortunately, despite a pessimistic forecast, there have only been a few raindrops since I packed away my rather wet tent this morning.

As I crossed the bridge over the Moselle from my campsite on the German side back to Luxembourg I noticed that the Café de Pont was open, allowing me the pleasure of a morning coffee. As I drank it I watched the CNN news on the bar's television. For some reason it was CNN Portugal with pictures of flooding. I am not sure what the people in the bar were speaking, not French or German two of the main languages used in Luxembourg, the third official language is Luxembourgish however there is a large Portuguese community according to my internet research. 

Leaving the bar I noticed a patisserie so I was able to buy something for breakfast and a salami sandwich for later on. Before tackling my croissants I climbed the first hill out of town to a handy picnic area at a high point. People were already out picking grapes, mostly by hand, putting the grapes in large grey containers which were being brought empty and removed full of grapes on trailers pulled by tractors, some of them looking quite old. The pickers were men and women of all ages, sensibly dressed for the outdoors complete with wellington boots. I only saw one case of machine picking. A tractor had a winch whose wire stretched down the slope between the rows of vines. The angle of the slope was such that I could not see what was at the end of the wire but I assumed a device picking grapes. Maybe the steepness of the valley sides made hand picking a more viable option. They certainly meant I put a lot of effort into climbing up roads. Today the route seemed have been planned so that I climbed the hillside out of some village, walked along the valley side on one of the many small, parallel roads through the vineyards, then descended down a long flight of steps starting at a shrine with the Luxembourg flag and ending at the next village.

Leaving Remich.

Grape pickers starting work.

First crate of grapes.

St Donat patron saint of wine producers.

Long flight of steps. 

By taking a circuitous route the GR5 kept me in Luxembourg a little longer than maybe necessary. Schengen is the final village which the GR5 enters from the south rather than a more obvious (and shorter) route from the north or west. Schengen is famous for the treaty signed here in 1985 to allow free movement between the signatory countries. The Schengen area now includes most European countries and is a great boon to travellers such as myself, as well as doing away with a lot of bureaucracy, which can only be good. Beside the riverside in the village of Schengen, flags were flying of all the countries who have joined the treaty (actually they were drooping due to lack of wind). Great Britain was noticeably absent, the English Channel separating Britain and Europe leads to a different approach. There was a European Museum dedicated to the history of the treaty but somehow it did not sound that interesting a subject for a museum and anyhow, I had a campsite to find.

Schengen was chosen as a place to sign the treaty as it is one of those points where three countries meet. I crossed the bridge from Luxembourg into Germany and at some point soon after I walked into France, and more particularly the Lorraine area of France. Waymarks returned to the white and red stripes of the GR5. The stretch from Schengen to Sierck-les-Bains was not that inspiring, running beside a railway line, the river hidden from sight. However Sierck-les-Bains is an interesting place. Castle walls brood over the riverside town. Narrow backstreets, canyons between four storey terraces, and shutters of peeling paint give the place a shady, run down appearance despite the boxes of flowers in the square. Being Monday the only choices for dining out were kebabs or pizza. Choosing pizza I found it surprisingly good, cooked in a wood fired oven it retained the smokiness of the wood, as well as the traditional flat base.

View of Sierck-les-Bains castle from my campsite.